Garlic Chive Stir Fry with Pork or Cang Ying Tou (苍蝇头) literally translates to “Flies’ Heads” in Chinese. And you thought you had heard it all! Someone definitely wasn’t being attentive to image and appetites when they gave this dish the name “flies’ heads.” But that person is not me! I’m just the messenger.
So Why Flies’ Heads?
Well, not to generalize too much, but Chinese names can get pretty creative based on the shape or look of something. Just look at these pictures of Guilin’s “Elephant Trunk Hill” (桂林象山) and Hunan’s “Gate to Heaven” (湖南天门洞).
Guilin’s Elephant Trunk Hill (桂林象山):
Hunan’s Gate to the Heaven (湖南天门洞):
Now look at the picture of this Garlic Chive Stir Fry with Pork dish. See what I mean? The namesake, of course, is the fermented black beans.
While the image the name evokes may slightly put you off, I have to say that any negatives end there. The flavor of this dish is “the bomb dot com,” as some of our family members who watch too much Diners, Drive-In’s and Dives described it. The flavors—“flies heads” or not—are just too delicious to ignore!
Easy to Prepare with Chives Or Scapes
Garlic Chive Stir Fry with Pork is a prominent Taiwanese home-style dish. It goes great with rice, and goes even better with congee! (It’s a perfect pairing for our 20-minute congee!)
Plus it’s one of our many dishes that is made with ground meat, which means it’s wonderfully simple and easy to prepare. If you don’t like ground pork, any ground meat will work: ground beef, ground chicken, or ground turkey.
One last note: if you can’t find garlic chives, garlic scapes work well too. I remember getting a ton of those in the summer CSA boxes I used to get every season.
So if you’re looking for a garlic chive stir fry recipe to use them up, this is the one. Check out our ingredients entry on garlic chives or Chinese chives because there are different types!
Let’s get started!
Recipe Instructions
Preheat your wok over high heat until it starts to smoke slightly. Turn down the heat, and let the wok cool down a bit before adding 1 tablespoon of the oil. (This step of superheating the wok before adding oil prevents the meat from sticking to the wok. This method works well for pan-frying anything–fish included.)
Once the oil is heated, turn the heat down to medium, and add the ground pork. Cook it until the meat is lightly browned. Add in the Shaoxing wine, ½ tablespoon light soy sauce, and the sugar. Mix well, turn off the heat, and transfer the cooked meat to a bowl.
Now turn the heat down to low, and add the last 2 tablespoons of oil and the ginger. Cook it for a minute, then add the garlic and fermented black beans. Cook everything for a minute or two, taking care to avoid burning.
Next, add the red long hot peppers, and turn the heat up high. Stir fry everything together, and let it cook for a minute uncovered.
Then, add in the cooked pork and garlic chives (if you use scapes, you will need to extend the cooking time at the end for 1-2 minutes with the wok lid on) and stir-fry.
Now it’s time to add in the remaining light soy sauce (1½ tablespoons) and the sesame oil. Stir-fry to combine. At this point, you can salt to taste, but the fermented black beans are quite salty. I found that I didn’t need to add any salt. But be fast about it, because the garlic chives cook quickly.
Transfer your Garlic Chive Stir Fry with Pork or Cang Ying Tou to a dish and serve with steamed rice.
Garlic Chives with Pork (Cang Ying Tou - 苍蝇头)
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons oil (divided)
- 10 ounces ground pork (285 g; can also use ground chicken, turkey, or beef)
- 2 teaspoons Shaoxing wine
- 2 tablespoons light soy sauce (divided)
- ¼ teaspoon sugar
- ½ tablespoon ginger (finely chopped)
- 1 tablespoon garlic (finely chopped)
- ¼ cup fermented black beans (35 grams, rinsed and drained)
- ½ cup red long hot peppers (or red bell peppers, finely diced)
- 12 ounces garlic chives (cut into ⅓-inch pieces)
- ½ teaspoon sesame oil
Instructions
- Preheat your wok over high heat until it starts to smoke slightly. Turn down the heat, and let the wok cool down a bit before adding 1 tablespoon of the oil. (This step of superheating the wok before adding oil prevents the meat from sticking to the wok. This method works well for pan-frying anything--fish included.)
- Once the oil is heated, turn the heat down to medium, and add the ground pork. Cook it until the meat is lightly browned. Add in the Shaoxing wine, ½ tablespoon light soy sauce, and the sugar. Mix well, turn off the heat, and transfer the cooked meat to a bowl.
- Now turn the heat down to low, and add the last 2 tablespoons of oil and the ginger. Cook it for a minute, then add the garlic and fermented black beans. Cook everything for a minute or two, taking care to avoid burning.
- Next, add peppers, and turn the heat up to high. Stir fry everything together, and let it cook for a minute uncovered. Then, add in the cooked pork and garlic chives (if you use scapes, you will need to extend the cooking time at the end for 1-2 minutes with the wok lid on) and stir-fry.
- Now it’s time to add in the remaining light soy sauce (1½ tablespoons) and the sesame oil. Stir-fry to combine. At this point, you can salt to taste, but the fermented black beans are quite salty--I found that I didn’t need to add any salt. But be fast about it, because the garlic chives cook quickly.
- Transfer to a dish and serve with steamed rice.
nutrition facts
Thanks for another great post. Your explanation of chinese names was quite good and the “Flies’ Heads” looks very tasty.
We can’t easily buy fermented black beans here. Any ideas for a substitute in this recipe?
Hi Ron, there is no substitution. I found fermented black beans on amazon, https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_c_1_15?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=fermented+black+beans&sprefix=fermented+black%2Caps%2C130&crid=1TP57JMMDFE0E. It’s a good condiment and it lasts forever (almost) in the refrigerator.
We also have a handful of recipes that use fermented black beans. Just search for “black beans” on our site :-)
Thank you for sharing
Could you plz Post the recipe dried bean curd with shredded pork: I love that dish but don’t know how to inmitate the exact style like in restaurant , mine always came out so dry
Thanks
Ok TN, I will do 香干肉丝 for you :-)
Can this be done with ground beef?? I have happen to have ground beef and red peppers AND giant garlic chives with huge flower buds from Nara Japan….!!
Sorry about the mistake, oooh, I wish I could edit my comments after the fact……
…..I just happen to have…. is what I meant to say….
;-)
Hi Pamela, sure you can. I mentioned it in the post. You can also use ground chicken or ground turkey :-)
I love chives and recently found out that they’re antibacterial and contain antibiotics. Can’t wait to try this recipe!
Good to know, Harvey. I will eat more of it :-)
This looks aMAAAAAAAzing <3 <3 <3
Thank you, Karo!
This sounds so delicious! And you know I have been heating my pan with the oil, I’ll definitely be trying just heating the pan then adding the oil. I love that this can become a healthy dish if you substitute chicken or turkey. I love it!
Thank you, Danielle! Hope you like it.
Dear Woks, this will be my dinner tonight and I will serve with forbidden rice. Many thanks.
How was it, Angela? Hope you liked it.
I will make this tonight – sounds delicious and quick. But I’m going to need to jimmy the amount of ingredients since after defrosting a lb of frozen ground chicken, what am I going to do with the leftover 6 oz.?
For pork I like to take the other half and make sausage patties with some herbs and spices, then I put them back in the freezer (probably violating some food safety rule there)
Hi, Alan, I can think of many dishes to make with the leftover ground chicken. To name a couple:
– Chicken and Holly Basil Stir Fry (https://thewoksoflife.com/2016/09/pad-kra-pao/)
– Stir-fried Green Beans with pork (chicken) and Chinese Olive Vegetable -(https://thewoksoflife.com/2016/08/stir-fried-green-beans/)
– Easy Braised Turnip Rice Bowls (https://thewoksoflife.com/2016/11/easy-braised-turnip-rice-bowls/)
– 15-Minute Lazy Noodles (https://thewoksoflife.com/2016/04/15-minute-lazy-noodles/)
– Home-Style Tofu Stir-Fry (https://thewoksoflife.com/2015/12/home-style-tofu-stir-fry/)
If the recipe calls for ground pork, no worries. Just sub in the chicken!
I love garlic chives. I really must cook this dish.
Please do, Carole!
Thanks for sharing.
Beautiful !
Thank you very much, Heghineh!